Prepare your mind and heart to learn. As you prayerfully study the scriptures, you can learn through the Spirit and receive personal revelation that meets your needs and circumstances.
Begin your study with prayer.
What do you think makes a family stronger?
Watch the following video, in which Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explains how temple marriage strengthens families. You will also hear Brother and Sister Rosales from Guatemala share the blessings that have come to their family because of their temple sealing.
What will you do to strengthen your current and future family?
You are a young single adult and one of your close friends wants to date you exclusively. Your friend is a good person but is not a member of the Church. You have shared the gospel with your friend, but your friend has not been interested in learning more.
As you study 1 Kings 11–16, you will have an opportunity to learn truths that can help you decide who you will date and marry.
In Solomon’s day, marrying within the covenant meant marrying a faithful member of the house of Israel. The Israelites had covenanted to serve the Lord and thereby receive His protection. In 1 Kings 11:1 we learn that Solomon married “strange women.” This means that Solomon married foreign women who worshipped foreign and false gods.
Some of Solomon’s marriages were authorized by the Lord (see D&C 132:38), but many were not. The marriages that were not authorized by the Lord were “abominable before [Him]” (Jacob 2:24; see also Jacob 2:23).
Read 1 Kings 11:2, looking for the warning the Lord had previously given about what would happen to Israelites who married outside of the covenant.
One principle we can learn from 1 Kings 11:3–8 is that who we choose to marry can have a profound influence on the decisions we make.
1. Answer both of the following questions:
How can your decisions now about who you will date influence who you will eventually marry?
In what ways can marrying in the covenant help us keep our hearts turned toward the Lord?
Far-Reaching Effects
Read the following statement by President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985):
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Spencer W. Kimball
“Marriage is perhaps the most vital of all the decisions and has the most far-reaching effects, for it has to do not only with immediate happiness, but also with eternal joys. It affects not only the two people involved, but also their families and particularly their children and their children’s children down through the many generations” (Spencer W. Kimball, “Oneness in Marriage,” Ensign, Mar. 1977, 3).
How could choosing to marry in or out of the covenant affect our current and future families? (You may wish to read Doctrine and Covenants 131:1–4 as you ponder this question.)
As you study 1 Kings 11–16, you will see how Solomon’s decision to marry outside of the covenant not only turned his heart away from God but also influenced others to turn their hearts away from God.
Read 1 Kings 11:9–13, looking for what the Lord told Solomon would happen as a result of Solomon’s disobedience.
Quiz 1
According to verse 10, the Lord specifically commanded Solomon
We find out in 1 Kings 11:14–28 that Solomon turned his heart away from the Lord, and the Lord allowed the Israelites to be afflicted by their enemies. One of Solomon’s servants, Jeroboam, also rose up in opposition against Solomon.
In 1 Kings 11:29–30 we learn that the prophet Ahijah tore his new coat into 12 pieces and gave 10 of the pieces to Jeroboam.
Read 1 Kings 11:31, looking for why Jeroboam was given 10 pieces of fabric.
In 1 Kings 11:37–43 we learn that the Lord promised Jeroboam that if he would keep the commandments, he would become king over Israel. When Solomon learned that Jeroboam was a threat to his kingdom, he sought to kill Jeroboam. Jeroboam fled to Egypt and stayed there until Solomon died.
We find out in 1 Kings 12:1–24 that after Solomon’s death, his son Rehoboam became king over all of Israel. Rehoboam followed the advice of his friends and increased the people’s burdens. As a result, the ten tribes living in the north rebelled against Rehoboam. They made Jeroboam their king, which fulfilled the words of the prophet Ahijah. This revolt divided the kingdom in two: the Northern Kingdom, called Israel, and the Southern Kingdom, called Judah.
Look at the map to see how these kingdoms were divided.
Because the temple was located in Judah, Jeroboam feared that his subjects would travel south to worship the Lord in the temple in Jerusalem and eventually join the Southern Kingdom. To prevent this, Jeroboam established new places of worship, idols, and feasts in the Northern Kingdom and appointed his own priests. Jeroboam thus led his people toward apostasy by turning them away from worshipping the Lord at His temple.
The Lord sent a prophet from Judah to warn Jeroboam about his wickedness and idolatry. Despite seeing miraculous signs of the Lord’s power, Jeroboam did not repent and continued to promote idol worship.
Read 1 Kings 14:7–9, 14–16 to see the consequences that would come upon Jeroboam and the ten tribes of Israel because they worshipped false gods.
Like the people in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, the people in the Southern Kingdom of Judah also became involved with idol worship and wicked practices. An especially evil practice of idol worship involving immorality often took place around the groves that were built to worship false gods.
Read 1 Kings 14:21–24, looking for words and phrases that show why the spiritual state of the people in Judah declined. (The word sodomites in verse 24 refers to male prostitutes.)
One principle we can learn from the accounts of Solomon, Jeroboam, and Rehoboam is that if we turn away from the Lord, then we will lose His promised blessings.
What can we do to ensure our hearts stay turned toward the Lord?
We learn from 1 Kings 15–16 that after the death of Jeroboam, a series of wicked kings reigned in Israel. Each of the kings in Israel continued in the ways of Jeroboam by worshipping false gods. However, Asa, a king of Judah, was righteous and followed the Lord.
